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The Ranger

Constitutional amendment can fix surveillance abuses in U.S.

Jul 9, 2013 - Mike Lieberman, General Santos City, Philippines

Editor:

No, Mr. Obama, I do not trust the checks and balances in the federal government to abstain from abusing a 'surveillance' database treasure trove. And even if -- and that's a big "if" -- you and your government doesn't abuse it, those who come after you will.

The simple presence of the database is wrong. It should not be and it needs to be erased entirely.

You and those around you are unlikely to do it. Congress is unlikely to do it... and it takes two-thirds of Congress to pass the enabling legislation to initially start a new amendment process.

If we start at the state level and enough states pass the needed legislation we don't just get an amendment, we get a constitutional convention, which neither you nor I want.

But ... having a government with the database you have created is intolerable.

Therefore I propose that we start a call for a constitutional convention and run it up to just one fewer than the needed number, with the proviso that it will be abandoned if an amendment is proposed by Congress to do away the raw a "surveillance database" for all time.